Disposable diaper



April 16, 1957 F. F. DEXTER DISPOSABLE DIAPER Filed Sept. 23, 1955 Freef. flea fer INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,788,786 DIsPosABL DIAPER Fred F. Dexter,Houston, Tex. Application September-I23, 1955, Serial No. 536,234

7 Claims. Cl. 128-284) Thisinvention relates to new and usefulimprovements in disposable baby diapers.

Erevious disposable diapers have failed to provide sufiicient absorbencywithout sacrificing characteristics considered necessary to facilitatetheir disposability, the very utilitarian-function for which suchdiapers were designed. Such diapers generally comprise a plurality ofinner layers of water-absorbent material to which maybe secured an outersheet of water-repellent material. rather bulky garment which, thoughexpendable, is not truly disposable because'of limited capacity ofordinary waste disposal channels. That is, such diapers may, of course,be deposited in waste containers or released through other largecapacity avenues but their utility is severely limited to the extentthat they do not lend themselves to disposal through the ideal medium ofhousehold plumbing channels. Obviously, to a prudent mother who, ratherthan risk clogging a plumbing fixture, faces the necessity of eithercarrying a damp or soiled diaper to a remote waste receptacle or bearingthe unpleasantness of a container for soiled diapers in the nursery,the. advertised advantages of disposable diapers are lost or, at best,minimized. Of course, such diapers may be so disposed if they are tornapart, but the fact that they require the use oftwo hands to tear anddissect them often presents mother with a chore more disagreeable thanthe washing of soiled conventional cotton diapers.

It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide a disposablediaper which combines maximum absorbency with maximum disposability.

' It is a; further object of my invention to provide a diaper having aminimum of bulk by confining all of the moisture and soil absorbingmaterial to the moisture and soil producing area on baby.

It is' a further object of my'invention to provide a disposable diaperwhich presents extra thicknesses of material for additional absorbencywhen applied to the baby which may be separated from the body of thediaperto facilitate disposal thereof.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a disposable diaperfeaturing the maximum of comfort to baby by virtue of its soft andpliable construction.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a disposable infantsdiaper which is simple in construction, reliable in use, and which canbe manufactured economically. a

With these objects in mind I have shown and described, for purposes ofillustration the preferred embodiments of my invention; u .7

In carrying out my invention I can initially form my diaper in anyone ofseveral conventional shapes such as a square, a rectangle, a triangle ora trapezoid. However, my preferred embodiment is as illustrated in thedrawings and features a contour type diaper of irregular configurationwhich adapts itself to the contour of baby.

The resultant multi-layer diaper constitutes a of the diaper to formapocket from top to bottom at.

the central portion of the diaper for the reception of a removablemulti-layered pad of highly absorbent material. Thus, in disposing ofthe diaper it is, with considerable facility, separated into its twocomponents, one the light weight, bulkless body portion of the diaperand the other the soluble absorbent pad.

The features of my invention which I believe to be novel are set forthwith particularity in the appended claims. My invention itself, however,together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following descripton in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is a plan view of anunfolded, disposable diaper comprising my invention; Fig. 2 is a planview of my disposable diaper folded for packaging or storage; Fig. 3 isa section view taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a view inperspective of my diaper as prepared for application to baby; and Fig. 5is a top view in perspective of my disposable diaper as positioned forapplication to baby.

Referring now to the drawings, my disposable diaper comprises a diaperbody or pad holder 1 and an absorbent insert pad insert 2 (Fig. 3).

rectangular, triangular or trapezoidal, I prefer to form mine of theirregular shape shown to facilitate its accommodation to the bodycontours of baby. In this form the diaper body 1 is shaped to form afront or abdomen-covering waist band portion 3 and a back waist bandportion 4 which are united, when applied as shown in Fig. 5, to encirclethe babys waist. From the back waist band portion 4 of maximum width theside'edges 5 and 6 curve inwardly to form a crotch portion of minimumwidth and then outwardly to the front waist band portion 3. Thecurvilinear disposition of the side edges 5 and 6 are furtheradvantageous in that they provide (Fig. 5) substantially circularleg-encircling openings;

For maximum versatility and utility, I form the diaper body 1 of twosubstantially coextensive, united sheets 7 and 8 each of whichcontribute certain desirable fea-' The inner sheet sorbency and extremewet strength of such material per- I mits the rapid dissipation ofmoisture without causing the disintegration or tearing of the innerlayeror its partial adherence to the infants skin.

The outersheet8 is made of an extremely thin but durable water-proofsheet having considerable tensile.

strength, such as' polyethylene or similar plastic material; Because ofthese characteristics, the outer sheet 8 inherently provides a strongouter cover for the diaper which ietaiiis any moisture therein.

The inner absorbent sheet? and the outer water-proof sheet 8aresuperimposed upon each other and joined together, by heat sealing orby. use of adhesive, only at. separated spots 9 to form a unitary diaperbody or pad holder. In addition to the obvious saving of adhesive theadvantages of joining the inner and outer layersat iso-..

lated spots are numerous. For example, and perhaps Patented Apr. 16,1957,

While the diaperbody 1 may be of any conventional configuration,square,.

V the baby during wear.

3. most important, I have found that it minimizes the area of stiffnessinherent in conventional adhesives and, hence, provides for extremepliability of the diapher both to increase vastly its comfort duringwear and to facilitate wadding it into a small, readily disposablepackage. I

have found through experimentation that the application of a strip ofadhesive or heat .seal across the body ofa diaper, and particularlyalong its edges, presents a relatively stiff, sharp seam which oftenchafes and irritates Further, as another important advantage, by unitingthe sheets 7 and 8 only at isolated spots 9, I preclude the formation ofair-tight cells or pockets between the sheets or layers which mightotherwise be created by a continuous seal. Such pockets tend to causethe entrapment of air with a resultant inflation or ballooning of thediaper body which increases its bulk and renders it buoyant, to retardimmeasurably its disposal'through normal plumbing channels.

As best shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the joining of the inner and outersheets 7 and -8 is confined to the side areas 10 adjacent the edges 5and 6 to leave unattached the central portion and thus form a pocket 11extending from top to bottom of the diaper.

Slidably and removably disposed within the pocket 11 between the innerand outer sheets 7 and 8 is the ab- V and 6 to permit retention of thecomfort-giving pliability mentioned hereinbefore.

In my preferred embodiment illustrated herein, I provide a spot ofpressure sensitive adhesive 12 or the like adjacent each side edge ofthe diaper intermediate the top 4 and bottom 3 thereof so that the sideedges may be folded inwardly, as shown in Fig. 2, and secured to thecentral portion'of the diaper. By securing the side edges inwardly asshown I provide, not only compactness to facilitate packing, shippingand'storage, but also, when the diaper is applied, a natural trap 13 forthe reception of waste as disclosed in my co-pending application SerialNo. 445,680, filed July 26, 1954.

Near each extremity'of the wing-like back' portion 4 I provide anotherspot of pressure-sensitive adhesive 14. This adhesive is preferablyapplied to the inner surface of the strong outer film 8, in which casethe inner, absorbent sheet 7 should be pre-cut at 15 to terminate shortof the wing-like extremity of the back waist band portion 4 to leave theextremity of the outer sheet 4 uncovered. Then, in packing the diaper,the extremity of outer sheet with the adhesive thereon may simply befolded over at 16 so that the water repellent sheet itself will serve asa protective covering for the pressure sensitive adhesive until thediaper is ready for use. By thus taking advantage of the characteristicsof the materials used in the diaper body I avoid the necessity of theconventional separable protective tabs. 7

In applying the diaper to the baby, the wing-like back waist bandportion and, for a large baby, the front waist band portion 3 are firstunfolded to their full width with the side edges still over the centralportion to form the waste trap13 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The integralwing extremities or tabs are then folded back to uncover thepressure-sensitive adhesive 15 and the baby is placed on the diaper withhis legs on opposite sides of the crotch portion. The front waist bandportion 3 is then folded upwardly to cover the babys abdomen and thewing-like back waist band is folded around babys' waist and secured, bymeans of thepressure-sensitive adhes ve 14, to the front'portion 3, asillustrated in 4 i Fig. 5. Thus, the diaper may be applied withoutrequiring the use of pins, buttons or other fastening members.

When the diaper is soiledthe Wing-like portion 4 may be pulled free ofthe front portion 3 and the diaper removed from baby. The diaper maythen simply be placed into a toilet bowl and by holding only to oneexposed end of'the soluble absorbent pad 2 the bowl may be flushed. Theresultant water pressure will pull the light weight, bulklessnon-soluble diaper body or pad,

holder 1 away from the partially soluble absorbent insert pad 2 which,in turn is then releasedto follow the diaper body I atone and the sameflushing; Because the spot seals 9 uniting the outer and inner sheets 7and 8 are separated and applied only at isolated points 9 adjacent theside edges, the non-soluble diaper body 1 is of maximum flexibility andincapable of trapping pockets of air which would otherwise retard normalflushing action.

While the present invention has been described by reference to theparticular modifications illustrated, 'it will be understood that thoseskilled in the art may make further modifications;

within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

Having described my invention I claim:

17 A disposable baby diaper composing an outer sheet 7 ofwater-repellent material, an inner sheet of water-absor mediate saidside portions, and a pad of absorbent mate rial slidably and removablycarried in said pocket.

2. A disposable diaper as defined in claim 1 including,

a spot of pressure-sensitive adhesive on said outer sheet near eachextremity of said back waist band pQrtion.

3. A disposable diaper comprising an outer sheet of water-repellentmaterial, an inner sheet of moisture abs'or-,

bent material, said inner'and outer sheets being coextensive and havingcurvilinear side edges defining the front portion, an intermediatecrotch portion of minimum width and a wing-like back portion of maximumwidth, said in nor and outer sheets being united by spot sealing atisolated points only in an areatextending from said back portion to saidfront portion adjacent each curvilinear side edge,

said spot sealing being adapted to permit substantially 11nrestrictedflowof fluids between said sheets and to leave the central portionthereof unjoined forming an open end' pocket, and an absorbent padslidably and removably received in said pocket.

4. A disposable diaper as defined in claim 3 including a spot ofpressure-sensitive adhesive on said outer sheet adjacent each extremityof said wing-like back portion.

5. A disposable baby diaper comprising an outer sheet of water-repellentmaterial, an inner sheet of water-absorbent material substantiallycoextensive therewith, said inner and outer sheets being united only atspaced points by means adapted to permit substantially unrestricted flowof fluids between said inner and outer sheets, an open end pocketbetween the central portions of said inner and outer sheets, and a padof absorbent material slidably and removably carried in said pocket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,290,110 McGraw July 14, 1942 2,516,951 Brink Aug. 1, 1950 2,627,858Miller Feb. 10, 1953 2,649,858

Therefore, I contemplate that the appended claims cover any suchmodifications as fall,

LeBolt Aug. 25, 1953

